R.A. McCandless's Blog, page 43

The Dialogue Itself

I ain't gonna 'splain it all to ya today.We recently covered those damned dialogue tags, which definitely have rules.  Now let’s look at dialogue itself, where rules go to die.  A fellow writer posted up this question:
So a teenage boy walks into a cave and says, “There's bones everywhere.” Or does he say, “There are bones everywhere.” I'm not wondering which is correct. I'm wondering which you think a boy would say.
If you want grammatically correct, “There are . . .” is the right wa...

Whatcha Gonna Do?

Sure, we'll take your Costco card as identification!
Once at the pharmacy, I realized that I’d forgotten my phone.  This is only important bec...

Know Your Audience

I’d finally had enough. This is my circus. This is my monkey.
Either blood was going to be spilled, or I was going to go insane.
I knew which direction I was leaning.
I took my two oldest boys—Porter and Tristan—with me on a trip to Home Depot.  I generally love it because, unless you’re in the light fixture aisle, there’s not too much they can break.  Plenty of stuff to damage them, but that just toughens them up, right?  We were checking out from the plant and garden area, and th...

My Name Is Del

Buy Hell Becomes Her!

Inspiration from Numbers

Inspiring image all by itself.Which brings us to today’s numbers for the first quarter of 2016:
Quarter Books Sold Running Total 1 Quarter 2016 71 217
That’s more books sold than the entire f...

Steamborn - Book Review

Why yes, this is a spider I'm riding!Asher’s story is an adventure story of Jacob, a sometimes thief, but mostly engineer’s apprentice and the struggles he faces in a world of overgrown insects.&nbs...

Damned Dialogue Tags

“Stop!” I shrieked, my voice echoing in the silence, jumping forward to put myself between them.Sparkly Vampire Book
"Come with me if you want to write good dialogue tags."Mostly, we learn by doing.  You can read about almost any activity, and you can fake expertise by relying on experts (thanks Jamie, Eric, Jan, Chuck, Michael . . . everyone else who helps me sound like I know what I’m talking about).  Then, there are some things that you simply have to be taught. 
Language, es...

Bernie Sanders—True, Verified and Really Real Facts

Bernie may have a point.  But what does Hilary think?I found this list both enlightening and deeply moving.  In reverse order, it’s #ThingsBernieSandersHates:
10—Smooth Jazz.  Bernie is more of a Muzak guy.  He can often be found in the Capitol Hill elevators, jamming out.
9—When celebrities claim to be environmentalists.  Pick one, damnit.  Bernie doesn’t have time for you to be a triple threat.
8—People who point at their wrist when asking the time.  “I know...

Niagara Falls Turns to Purple Rain

Dearly beloved, We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.  Electric word: Life. It means forever and that's a mighty long time.
There are better tributes out there.
But this one is mine.Remember to go crazy this weekend, party like it’s 1999, jump in that little red Corvette, and don’t worry about being too demanding or never satisfied—it’s what Prince would have wanted.
The Eiffel Tower, and numerous other landmarks turned purple yesterday.  Niagara Falls was a...

Weekends Are What You Make Them

Speech is harder than it sounds!WOOO!
Part of my exhaustion is from judging eight rounds at the California High Sch...